Written by

Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY

Phil Lord and Chris Miller had heard the concerns in Hollywood about a movie based on the enormously popular Lego building toy. The writer-directors even had misgivings themselves, despite being lifetime fans of the Danish brand.

"At first we thought, 'Oh, I don't know. A movie based on a plastic brick?' " says Miller. "But we thought that maybe there is a way to do an interesting story as crazy and random as the toy itself. And we thought, we'll pitch this crazy idea and if they don't want to do it, then fine."

The duo has a reputation for turning crazy and random into box-office hits: They were ...